Bookbinding and The Care of Books
Librarians by Douglas Cockerell with Drawings
by Noel Rooke and other Illustrations
New York
1902
Book binding Chapter XIV
Part 3
finishing press between a pair of backing boards
lined with leather (see fig. 84), and the paper
pattern put across the back, with the ends either
slightly pasted to the backing boards, or caught
between them and the book for the sides, the
pattern is very slightly pasted on to the leather at
the four. The book is then put in the finishing
press, with the board to be tooled open and flat on
the cheek of the press, unless the book is a large
one, when it is easier to tool the sides out of the
press.
a wet pad, and then pressed in their former impressions upon the paper. The degree of heat
required varies a good deal with the leather used, and will only be learned by experience. I t is
better to have the tool too cool than too hot, as it is easy to deepen impressions after the paper
is removed; but if they are already too deep, or are burnt, it will be impossible to finish clearly.
Generally speaking, tools should hiss very slightly when put on the cooling pad. In cooling, care
must be taken to put the shank of the tools on to the wet pad, as, if the end Finishing only is
cooled, the heat is apt to run down again, and the tool will still be too hot.
be lifted up, and the leather examined to see that no
part of the pattern has been missed. In some patterns
where the design is close, or in which the background is
dotted in, it will not be necessary to blind in every leaf
and dot through the paper. If the lines with perhaps the
terminal leaves are blinded in, the rest can be better
worked directly through the gold. This method implies
the "glairing in" of the whole surface. It is not suitable
for open patterns, where the glaire might show on the
surface of the leather.
If the book is only to have lines, or some simple
straight line pattern, it is often easier to mark it up
without the paper, with a straight-edge and folder. In
paneling a back, the side lines of all the panels should
be marked in at the same time with a folder, working
against the straight-edge, held firmly at the side of
the back. If the panels are worked separately, it is
difficult to get the side lines squarely above each other.
a piece of stiff vellum held squarely across the back. If there are lines to be run round the board,
they can be marked in with a pair of dividers guided by the edge of the board, except those at
the back. These must be measured from the foredge of the board and run in with straightedge
and folder.
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